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Robert Harris, Edward Berger and the Vatican

By Paul Monk

Robert Harris is a gifted historical novelist, whose work spans millennia on topics from ancient Rome (Imperium, Pompeii, Dictator) to the Nazi era (Fatherland, Munich) and the present (Conclave). He is clearly interested in the workings of power, the logic of institutions, the nature of diplomacy and the role of individuals on the margins of major events. His latest book, Conclave, is about the Vatican and Papal elections.

I come from a Catholic background. I took the religion seriously when young and pondered a career as a Jesuit. My parents urged me on. My father declared, “You could become the first Australian Pope!” But the more I thought about the matter, the less inclined I was to go down any such path.

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"(Harris) makes it all a little too assimilable and comfortable for the believer or the politically correct. To be sure, that’s a rare combination these days. But there is a lot of first-class history, including very recent history, of the Vatican that is rather conspicuously missing from the film."
Paul Monk

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